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What is an ACES Digital Signature?

In order to facilitate electronic filing with government agencies, the General Services Administration (GSA) has implemented the Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES) program. The Office of the Clerk has approved the use of ACES digital signatures on Lobbying Disclosure registrations and reports.

With handwritten signatures, a person who accepts a written signature on a check or important document may require identification and compare the signature on the identification document with the signature on the new document. Signing before a notary public gives a higher level of authentication because an official verifies the signer's identity. Both are processes of verifying identity.

Digital signatures are now accepted as the electronic equivalent of an individual's verified written signature because they combine a process and a technology of identity verification.

An individual who wants to use a digital signature applies for a digital signature certificate from a certificate authority (CA). The CA uses various means to verify the individual's identity -- the process component. The more thoroughly the CA verifies the identity of the individual, the higher the level of trust given to the digital signature.

The certificate authority creates an electronic signature and issues one part of the digital signature to the individual and stores the other part to allow electronic validation -- the technology component.

Digital signatures consist of a pair of separate secure encrypted data components known as the 'public key' and the 'private key'. The public key, or identity key, is held by a certificate authority, which may be an authorized private vendor or a public agency. The private key, or signature key, is stored on an individual's computer. When the individual who has access to the secure private key attaches it to a document and submits it to an agency, the private key is sent electronically to the certificate authority. If the public and private keys match, the signature is validated.

For agencies using the ACES program, the only certificate authorities that may issue ACES certificates are those authorized by GSA under the ACES contract as official ACES vendors. For more information on the GSA ACES Program, please visit http://www.gsa.gov/aces/.

The ACES program authorizes two types of certificates. They are:

• Transaction-based certificates, which are specific to one agency and require an agency code as part of the application; and;
• Subscription-based certificates, which are purchased by an individual and may be used with any agency adopting a subscription-based digital signature filing program.

The Office of the Clerk has adopted the subscription-based program for Lobbying Disclosure filing.